


The Wishing Stone

by camichats



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, James Potter Lives, M/M, Magical Artifacts, Resurrection, Reunions, Wishes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:15:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28441521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Sirius had been making his way through the Black family library when he came across a stone that could supposedly grant wishes.He wished for James.
Relationships: Sirius Black/James Potter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42





	The Wishing Stone

There were thousands of books in the Black Family Library. Thousands and thousands, and at least half of them were about things that no longer existed. Animals that were now extinct or illegal or both. Sometimes they were pure fantasy. There were rituals that couldn't be performed because the climate was so different. Potions that required ingredients that could no longer be found. 

There were also books on artifacts that Sirius had never heard of or seen anywhere else. He didn't know if that was because they'd been destroyed, or if they'd never existed at all. Either way, it made for some interesting reading when he had nothing else to do. With Harry at Hogwarts and him unable to leave Grimmauld Place, he would pick up a book and start reading. Some of the stuff in those books was interesting, even if it was useless in the end. Like reading about the beginnings of creature experimentation-- _he_ wasn't going to use anything he'd learned. He was bored enough that it was interesting to read about wizards from millennia ago arguing about which phases of the moon were good for breeding what creatures (or if it mattered at all). 

All in all, making his way through the library was little more than a way to waste time for a lack of anything better to do. Until, that is, he found an entry about an artifact that could grant any wish. It was listed between a cloak to hide someone's existence as they walked-- which sounded suspiciously like the Invisibility Cloak that James and now Harry had-- and a wand that was said to make the bearer invincible. There was a drawing of the wand, and then an impression that held the stone. 

The Wishing Stone, it said. Capable of granting any wish for the bearer. One wish per twelve moon cycles. It warned that there was a price to be paid for any wish, but it didn't say what that price was-- other than 'equal in power to the wish itself'. There weren't any examples of prices, but there was a list of wishes that had been made and how they turned out. Someone that wished for a dragon had it fly right into their yard a day later-- of course, owning dragons had recently been made illegal, so he'd been arrested for it. Someone else wished for wealth and got it in a massive find of gemstones while they were on a walk. Someone else wished for the Head of a rival House to die, and they died the next moment leaving no clue as to who had done it or how. 

It was possible to renounce a wish so that everything reversed itself, but it didn't go into great detail about it. Evidently, the author assumed that if the reader used the Wishing Stone, they'd at least pick something they wanted. 

Sirius picked up the stone and rolled it between his fingers. It was black, cut into the sharp shape of a diamond, and if the book was to be believed, powerful enough to give him whatever he wanted. There were a dozen things he could ask for-- his name cleared, freedom, a body that was healthy again-- but the one thing he'd wish for was obvious: he wanted James back. He wanted James alive, here and with him. 

He gripped the stone tightly in his hands so that the corners bit into his skin painfully as he thought it. More than anything, he wanted to say it aloud and make it happen. 

He couldn't do it though, not without knowing what the price was. In magic, it was usually a life for a life. If he wished for James to be alive again, someone else would probably have to die to make space for him, and there was no guarantee for who it would choose. Sirius would be guilty as hell if it chose a random muggle off the street, and he wouldn't be able to live with himself at all if it was Harry or one of his friends. 

He put the stone back in the book and slapped it shut. He put the book back on the shelf and went to bed. He couldn't stop himself from thinking about it, but he knew that it was never going to happen. It wasn't a risk that he could take with someone else's life. If it was just him-- to switch his life for James's-- he'd do it. James had always been _good_. He'd decided to have a family when Lily offered, and he should get the chance to actually meet his son and finish raising him. He'd have so much to do here, and Sirius didn't have anything. If there was a just god in the universe, it would've let Sirius die in the war so that James could live. They would've taken care of it before Sirius had a chance to bugger everything up. 

* * *

Sirius turned into Padfoot and went out to sit on the front stoop. It was the furthest away from the Fidelius that he could get for a few hours without the whole charm collapsing in on itself. Technically, he wasn't supposed to even be this much in the open, but he was damned if he was going to not see a single ray of sunshine. A dog on an otherwise muggle street every now and then wasn't going to alert the Aurors of his location. 

He laid down on the pavement, soaking up the warmth. No one really went walking here, so he didn't have to worry about someone stepping on his legs by accident. 

He'd taken a nap and woken back up when he heard someone coming. He opened his eyes but otherwise didn't move, waiting for them to pass by. Only instead of leaving, they slowed to a stop in front of him and squatted down. Before he could decide to feel annoyed by it, they said, "Padfoot?" in an achingly familiar voice. 

He jolted upwards, and there was James. Sirius switched without even checking to see if there was someone else on the street that could see him. "This isn't possible," Sirius said, hands going out to touch him. He was solid and warm. Sirius's hands went to his face and he felt tears well up in his eyes. He shook his head. "It's impossible. How-?" James didn't even look the same. He didn't look like a copy of the day that he'd died; he looked older, like he'd actually had time to grow older the same way that Sirius had. The leanness of youth had been replaced with the weighty comfort of age. 

"I don't know," James said, clinging to Sirius the same way that Sirius was clinging to him, "but it's me. I swear, Sirius, it's really me. What are you doing here? I thought you hated Grimmauld Place?" 

Sirius pulled him into a hug, gripping tightly. "I didn't have anywhere else to go." He didn't want to get into all of that out here though, kneeling on the pavement. "We should get off the street. Can you see it?" he asked, pulling back to gesture to the house. 

James nodded, and Sirius fumbled to his feet and pulled him inside. 

* * *

James had his wand, somehow. They left it lying around so that Sirius could use it if he wanted, which he did. Often. He'd missed being able to use magic for everything that he wanted because without a wand, he'd basically been powerless. Dumbledore had said that he'd get him one, but Sirius knew that he was taking his sweet time on that. 

Sirius picked up the wand one day and flicked it at the stove, but it didn't turn on. He frowned and tried again. It sputtered a little, but this time it worked. Sirius looked down at the wand with realisation creeping in. At this point, it was only a suspicion, so he didn't say anything to James about it. 

As the week passed, he noticed it happening more and more. He'd recognized that his magic was weak in the beginning, from lack of use. Or at least, that's what he'd assumed. That it had been weak from lack of use, that is. With it only getting worse, he had a new theory: this was the price for bringing James back. Gain someone important, and lose something important. If he was right about this, he didn't get how it was supposed to be equivalent. Anything that Sirius had, he would've traded to get James back; it was only other people that he hadn't been willing to bargain with. 

Of course, he hadn't _meant_ for the wish to go through. When Dumbledore-- and everyone else-- had asked about it, he'd played dumb. He hadn't breathed a word about the wishing stone or the book itself. He'd told as much of the truth that he dared, but it was hardly anything. He'd been reading in the library and thinking about James. He'd stopped reading to try and get some sleep, and when he'd finally drifted off, he'd been thinking about him. The next day, he was there; Sirius was as shocked as all of you, honest. Dumbledore had asked to see the book, so Sirius gave him the most recent one he'd read on magically created creatures. Despite all the lying and Dumbledore's general belief to not trust him, he didn't get found out. 

Sirius had told James, of course, but James had agreed it was a good idea to keep it just between the two of them. 

And now he was losing his magic. How the sodding hell was he supposed to explain that? Everyone else would be suspicious, but James would be torn to pieces about it. He knew how much Sirius loved magic, the casualness to its every use that made him feel like he was breathing it as much as the air around them. 

Unsurprisingly, it didn't take James long to find out and confront him. "Something's wrong with your magic," he said. It wasn't out and out a question, but he was looking for confirmation. 

"Yes." 

James swallowed. "Is it because of me?" 

He hesitated for a second before answering. "I think so. The book mentioned that there was a price, and this is the first thing I've seen." 

"Maybe-" 

"No." 

"You didn't let me finish." 

"Oh, so were you going to suggest something other than me reversing the wish?" 

James stayed silent, which was answer enough. 

"Losing my magic is nothing compared to getting you back, James. I'd do it a hundred times over, given the chance. I would've given _everything_ I had to get you back. If I'd had to die for you to be alive again, I would've done it even though it would've meant that I never got to see you. Comparatively, I'd say that losing my magic is a pretty cheap price." 

"I hate it when you say shite like that," James muttered. "I'm not better than you. You shouldn't have risked anything to bring me back." 

Sirius gave him half a smile. "Thank Merlin you're gorgeous." 

"I'm not joking." 

"I know," Sirius said, smile sliding away, though the warmth of it stayed in his face. He stepped closer and pressed a lingering kiss to James's cheek. 

James grabbed him before he could finish pulling away and held him tight. "You don't have a death wish, right?" he asked quietly. 

"Not with you here," he said. He knew that it scared James to hear it, but it was the truth. James should've already known that he was everything to Sirius-- he'd told him that before, a hundred times before. 

James kissed him, and even after months of doing this, it sent a thrill through Sirius to feel it again after so long without. "Don't do anything stupid. Well, anything _else_ stupid. Without magic, you stay with me, yeah?" 

"Right," Sirius said with a snort, "because if I still had magic, I'd be leaving you in the dust." 

"You never know." 

"Rubbish." 


End file.
